


Tumblr Prompts

by queensguardian



Series: All For The Game Musings [8]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Hot Chocolate, M/M, Tumblr Prompt, baking and softness, but so is andrew so its ok, neil is stupid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-12 07:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16868329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queensguardian/pseuds/queensguardian
Summary: I wanted a place to post my shorter tumblr prompts! If you want to request something feel free ontumblr





	1. Stupid

**Author's Note:**

> This was such a fun cute prompt! I hope you all enjoy it!

24\. “That was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

 

Neil kicked his feet against the counter, sipping a cup of tea and watching Andrew work. Andrew hadn’t yet asked him to get his ass off of the counter, so he wasn’t about to move. 

Instead, Andrew was silently moving around him, mixing ingredients into a bowl for cookies and ignoring Neil completely. 

“Want some help, _darling?_ ” Neil asked faux-sweetly, before taking a large sip out of his tea. 

Andrew glared at him, but the warmth in his gaze negated any anger it might have held. “Well, _babe,_ I don’t want these cookies to taste like burnt tar, so no. You just sit there and look pretty.”

Neil rolled his eyes at the words, but he couldn’t quite keep the blush out of his face at both the endearment and the compliment, however sarcastic it was. Andrew ignored this as well, but Neil knew he caught the way Neil’s cheeks heated—Andrew didn’t ever miss a thing. 

They fell back into easy silence, Neil responding to a few texts while Andrew scooped the dough into little balls and laid them out on a tray, before sticking that tray in the oven. 

He walked back over to the sink next to Neil, presumably to wash his hands, but before he could get there Neil grabbed his hand, and sucked Andrew’s index finger into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around it, licking up the sugar and not breaking his gaze with Andrew’s. 

This casual intimacy, hard fought and hard won, was something to be savored, every time, and Neil still reveled in the way Andrew trusted him, and vice versa. 

Andrew didn’t move, letting Neil finish, but Neil didn’t miss the way his pupils dilated slightly. After another moment, he pulled off of Andrew’s finger with a pop, and licked his lips, humming contentedly.

“Disgusting,” Andrew finally huffed, before washing his hands as he had intended all along. 

“Mm-hmm.” Neil didn’t believe that at all, and just went back to looking at his phone. Dan was texting him pictures of Matt as they settled into their new place, the man excitedly gesturing around and opening boxes with the glee of a child on Christmas. He set up a FaceTiming session with them for later, before being distracted again by Andrew clearing his throat softly.

He looked up to find Andrew right in front of him, silently asking permission to come closer. Neil smiled in accession, and Andrew stepped between his legs, resting his hands easily on Neil’s thighs and leaning in for a kiss. Neil leaned forward to meet him, smiling at the idea that Andrew was most definitely on his tiptoes to reach Neil’s lips on the countertop. Andrew nipped at his bottom lip in retaliation, which only turned the kiss more heated. 

They parted after a few minutes, but Andrew didn’t pull away. Instead, he tilted his head until their foreheads were pressed together. Neil closed his eyes against the sensation, a little overwhelmed but not wanting to break the contact. They breathed together, neither moving, until the timer for the cookies went off, and Andrew finally pulled away. 

Neil blinked into the brightness of the kitchen, feeling a little like he was waking up from a long sleep. Andrew pulled the cookies out of the oven, before taking off the ridiculous orange oven mitts that Nicky had bought them (complete with fox paw prints on the palms), and immediately trying to pick up a cookie. 

Neil watched him flatly as he had to drop the cookie, which broke apart, before trying again with the smaller pieces. He shoved a bit into his mouth, breathing with his mouth as the sugar cooled on his tongue. 

He watched Andrew (and was slightly impressed by his resolve), as the man proceeded to repeat this process with two more cookies, the last finally cooling enough that he could hold it in his hand. 

Neil’s lips twitched, and, as Andrew brought the cookie up to his mouth, he snatched it out of his hand and ate it himself.

Andrew’s eyes went from shocked to venomous in seconds, but Neil knew it was the type of venom reserved only for him, the kind that meant Andrew was more amused or interested than anything. 

“That was,” he said slowly, cocking his head to the side, “by far the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. And that is saying a lot.”

He paused for a moment, and Neil took advantage of his silence to grab another cookie. This was seemingly the last straw, because Andrew lunged at him, grabbing at the cookie, which Neil held high above his head triumphantly. 

Andrew didn’t even pause, just wrapped his arms around Neil’s waist and hoisted him up and away from the countertop. The move startled a shocked laugh out of Neil, and they both were so taken aback by the sound that they stopped short, staring at each other. 

But now that it was out, he couldn’t seem to stop. Neil giggled breathlessly, and when Andrew’s brain caught up with the sight in his arms, he rolled his eyes, before carrying Neil easily into the next room and throwing him onto his back on the couch. He lay down heavily on Neil, and finally reached up and grabbed the cookie out of Neil’s extended hand, eating the snack and staring at Neil’s beaming face. 

His giggles were dissipating a little now, turning into occasional hiccuping laughter, and he stared up to where his boyfriend was lying on his chest, openly staring at him as if memorizing his face. 

“Staring,” he said, voice a little rough from laughter. 

Andrew scoffed, but didn’t deny it, and he leaned forward to kiss Neil softly. He tasted like chocolate chip cookies. 


	2. Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Prompt: i’m running late to an important interview/meeting and you accidentally spill your hot cocoa all over my outfit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the request! I had a lot of fun with this one, but a hard time condensing it down haha!  
> I hope you enjoy!

**04.**  i’m running late to an important interview/meeting and you accidentally spill your hot cocoa all over my outfit

 

Neil shoved through people on the street, keeping his elbows out and gaze down. He was going to be late, and he really _couldn’t_ be late for this interview—who knew when he would get another chance like this, and the weather was only going to get colder. 

Despite his quick pace, he was doing a good job of dodging people and ignoring the freezing temperatures, until someone changed direction suddenly behind him and slammed into his back. He was thrown forward, directly into another person, and thoroughly drenched in piping hot liquid.

He winced, but didn’t make a sound at the pain, his eyes immediately finding the reason for his predicament. 

Whoever had accidentally rammed into him was long gone, but the person who had dumped their drink all over his chest was still there, looking at him with an intense, flat stare. 

The man was short, with slick blond hair and an expensive-looking peacoat. He held a now-empty cup of what appeared to have been hot chocolate in gloved hands. HIs hazel eyes held Neil’s gaze, and Neil felt quite breathless, though he didn’t think it was from the pain. The man cocked his head at Neil, eyes assessing the damage and finally breaking contact with Neil’s. Snow fell softly onto his golden hair.

“You should watch where you’re going,” the man said, his face not betraying any hint of emotion.

Neil’s temper flared a little. “You’re the one who spilled his drink on _me._ ” 

The man just shrugged, and Neil shook himself. 

“I don’t have time for this.” He adjusted his scarf, hoping it would hide the worst of the damage, before heading off again. 

The man didn’t call him back, and he made it to the tall building where _The Fox_ was located with time to spare. 

He took the stairs two at a time, rather than risk waiting for the elevator, and took a moment on the tenth floor of the stairwell to catch his breath before stepping out into the open offices.

It was a small publishing firm, but they were rising fast in notoriety, after publishing works that were deemed to ‘risky’ to be published by bigger companies.When Kevin Day had jumped ship from _Raven, Inc_ it had only fanned the flames. They’d had a few flops, but they’d also had a couple hits; enough to make people start paying attention.

None of this really mattered all that much to Neil. Sure, he cared about the publishing world, and was deeply passionate about writing and editing in general, but mostly he just really desperately needed a job, and when Matt had told him about the opening he’d jumped at the opportunity, despite Matt’s insistence that he could keep crashing on his couch. 

Neil’s fingers itched to come up and cover the scars on his cheeks, but he resisted, and gave his name to the man at the front desk, who introduced himself as Nicky and told him to head back to Wymack’s office.

Neil steeled himself, and gave a curt nod to Matt when the man waved through his door. He would go see the man later, when this whole thing was over. 

“So, you must be Neil,” Wymack boomed from behind his desk, gesturing for Neil to come in and shut the door. 

Neil did so, resisting the urge to cringe away from Wymack’s demeanor. He hadn’t seen his father in two years now; knew he was dead and buried, but the instinct was to deeply ingrained he didn’t think he would ever fully get over it. 

“So, Matt tells me that you could use a job,” Wymack said, leaning forward over his desk.

Neil nodded, unsure of how to carry himself in this kind of situation.

“I’ve seen from your resume that you don’t have a lot of experience in this kind of job, but I like that you’re good with languages, and Matt says you’ve travelled, and seen different cultures.”

“Uh, yes sir.”Neil nodded along, 

“Well,” Wymack said lightly, the fire going out from his eyes a little. “You need a job, the sample corrections you sent over were good, and lucky for you, we’re desperate for people, so you’re hired.”

“Just like that?” Neil sputtered.

“Just like that. You’ll figure it out soon enough, but we really need people. Not many people in punishing are willing to take a risk on us.”

Neil straightened in his chair a little, shocked that it had been this easy. Everywhere else he had tried wasn’t even hiring, let alone desperate. He wondered what he’d gotten himself into.

“Aaron’s probably not busy right now, he can show you around. And kid,” Wymack gestured to Neil’s appearance. “Use your first paycheck to fix that, for Christsake.”

Neil flushed, but nodded diligently and headed out the door. In his eagerness to escape the awkward conversation, he had neglected to find out where Aaron was located. He headed to Matt’s office, hoping the man could direct him in the right place.

“Well?” Matt asked, hand paused on the mouse at his computer. “Did you get it?”

“Got it,” Neil let a small smile escape as Matt whooped. “Could you introduce me to Aaron, maybe? He’s supposed to show me around.”

Matt pouted a litt. “Aaron? Womack didn’t ask you to have me show you around? Oh well, ok. At least it’s not Andrew.”

“What’s so wrong with Andrew?” Neil asked as Matt closed whatever he’d been doing, before standing to show Neil to Aaron’s office.

“He’s just, ah, a little, crazy.” Matt shivered, passing a hand briefly to his arms, before leading Neil out into the hallways. 

They made their way a couple doors down, where Neil looked through the glass windows into the office and saw…the man he’d run into earlier. 

He gaped for a moment, before noticing that something was off. The man was wearing different clothes, had his hair styled differently, and carried himself all together in a different way than the man earlier. But maybe he’d also gotten hot chocolate on himself earlier. Neil really had no way of knowing, so he stepped into the room after Matt.

As they were introduced, Neil watched Aaron’s face carefully, but the man showed no sign of recognition. Neil supposed it could be that the man didn’t remember him from earlier, but that seemed like almost too much of a stretch. 

Aaron took him on a tour of the office, never once making eye contact with Neil, and doing his very best to get the tour over with as soon as possible. 

At the end of it, Aaron showed him to a tiny office a few doors down from his own. 

“Newbies are here. It’s small as shit, but you’ll get used to it.”

Neil was staring in awe at the space. The space that was going to be _his,_ for a long time if he managed not to fuck it up. “It’s perfect.”

Aaron stared at him for a moment, and then snorted. “Great, another Kevin. Just what we needed.”

“Do you…do you have a twin, by chance?” Neil asked from his doorway as Aaron turned to leave. 

Aaron’s nostrils flared minutely. “What did he do?”

So that’s a yes. “Nothing! I mean, this is his hot chocolate all over my shirt, but otherwise—“

Aaron was already walking away. “Yeah, whatever. He works here too, I’m sure you’ll meet him later.”

Neil went over to his desk (his desk!) and sat down gingerly. He took in the smell of books and leather, and the old desktop computer, and he sagged with the weight of relief in his chest. A job meant money, meant maybe he could have a home someday. 

The thought was revolutionary. Neil didn’t know what to do with it. 

Realizing that there were eyes on him, he looked up, to see the other twin leaning against his doorway. 

“You must be Aaron’s brother, then.” He said, not getting up. 

The other man stared at him with the same apathy that he’d had earlier, though he quirked an eyebrow a little at the words. “Andrew.”

“Andrew. Right. Well, I guess we’ll be working together, then. What do you do here?”

“Editing. And making sure Kevin doesn’t work himself to death,” Andrew said, hands casually resting in the pockets of his suit. “Your shirt’s ruined.”

Neil’s jaw tensed at the statement. Was this guy really about to pick a fight over the hot chocolate? “Yeah, well. No thanks to you, I guess.”

“Wasn’t my fault you don’t look where you’re going. Too busy looking behind you, I’m guessing.”

Neil leaned back at that. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You just have that look about you. Rabbit.”

“Well, that’s none of your business,” Neil said, feeling a little like the ground beneath him had shifted at the idea of Andrew noticing him so easily.

Andrew took the dismissal this time, and stood, but hesitated at the door of Neil’s office. “I owe you a shirt. Meet me after work.”

Neil felt his cheeks darken a little, thankful that Andrew had left after he’d said the words. He didn’t know if this was some bizarre moral code on Andrew’s part, or if he just looked like a walking charity case, but he didn’t particularly care. He did need a new shirt, and he didn’t exactly have the funds for one.

 

He made it through his first day, slowly learning the ropes and meeting everyone. He was grateful to already have Matt and Dan, and by extension he sort of knew Allison and Renee, and Seth (though really he didn’t care to know Seth). Apparently what Wymack had said was true; there were hardly enough Foxes to run the business, and Neil was shocked they were still going. But everyone worked hard, and they were buoyed by Kevin’s keen eye and a surprising amount of stubbornness. 

At the end of his shift, he found Andrew waiting for him by the elevators, looking annoyingly put together after a long day of work. 

“Where are we going?” Neil asked, keeping a healthy distance between them.

“Where’s the trust, Neil? Just my tailor, so try not to run off, rabbit.”

Neil rolled his eyes, stretching his neck after the long day. “Fine. But I don’t need your charity.”

“Not charity. I don’t do charity. I just don’t want to be in your debt. I also don’t want to have to look at that terrible shirt every day.”

So he’d been right about the moral code thing. “Fine.”

They walked the streets of New York in silence, Andrew setting a brusque pace and Neil content to walk behind what he was now seeing was actually a human bulldozer. Tourists and locals alike seemed to part from Andrew like water. He had the opposite effect of Neil—where Neil slipped through the cracks unnoticed, Andrew’s presence seemed to declare, ‘Look at me, and get the fuck out of my way.’

They were getting a break in the weather, thankfully (Neil’s shoes couldn’t handle much more of the snow), but there was a blanket of it on the buildings and archways, and a muddy slurry of it in the roads.

Neil stood awkwardly at the tailor’s, staring out the window and trying not to betray his discomfort to Andrew. He didn’t like having hands so close to his scars. As soon as the man had his measurements (including for a jacket and pants, at Andrew’s insistence), Neil pulled away, resisting the urge to shiver. Andrew, blessedly, didn’t mention it.

“There. Not so bad, was it?” Andrew asked, though Neil had a feeling he didn’t really care how Neil felt about it one way or the other. 

“Great, thank you. I’m going to go home now—“

“There’s a restaurant two doors down that’s decent.” Andrew said, conspicuously not meeting Neil’s eyes.

“…Ok?”

“Are you hungry?” Andrew seemed to grit his teeth around the words.

“I guess.” Neil trailed after Andrew when the man turned without another word, still a little confused by the turn of events. 

The restaurant was just as Andrew said. It was cozy inside, with a fireplace in the corner and dim lights at the tables. Neil didn’t get any wine, and ordered the same thing Andrew did, but it was perfectly fine. He’d never really been picky about food (had never been able to be).And Andrew was actually surprisingly easy to talk to, when he wasn’t making veiled threats.

Andrew didn’t seem interested in small talk, for which Neil was grateful. About halfway through the meal, while he was listening to Andrew talk about how he’d gotten the job at the Fox, and his family, when Neil’s eyes widened with sudden comprehension.

“Is this a date?” He asked, heart clenching in embarrassment at the words. 

Andrew blinked a couple times, before leveling a flat stare at him. “You’re an idiot.”

Neil dropped his burning face into his hands. “Oh god. I’m aware. _So_ aware.”

If Neil didn’t already know better, he would swear that Andrew gave out a little snort. 

Andrew let him sit with his embarrassment for a moment, before clearing his throat to get Neil’s attention. “Do you want it to be a date? Because there’s no pressure here. If you don’t, this is just dinner between coworkers, and we can leave and forget we ever had this conversation.”

Neil’s heart warmed at the words, and he smiled softly. No one had ever given him this kind of consideration. He tilted his head, considering the blond in front of him.

“I think…It’s a yes on my end. What about you?”

“I’m the one who asked you, idiot.”

Neil didn’t budge, waiting on Andrew’s answer.

“…Yes.”

“Ok.

Their dinner went on until the restaurant was stacking chairs and wiping tables, and then Andrew called a cab, and had it go to Neil’s place first to drop him off. 

Neil looked at Andrew’s face, framed in the dim light from the street lights outside. “Well. Thank you, and sorry I didn’t, uh, realize. The whole date thing. I’ve been told I have to have things spelled out.”

“Yes or no, idiot?” Andrew asked, leaning in. Neil realized what he wanted after a second, his breath catching in anticipation. 

“Yes.” He closed the distance between them, and their lips met for a brief kiss. Andrew’s lips were soft and dry, and Neil sighed into the kiss. 

When the pulled apart, Andrew’s expression remained unchanged, but there was a distinct blush high on his cheeks. 

“Get out,” he said, and Neil laughed, before opening the cab door and sliding out. 

“See you at work, Andrew!” He called. The man didn’t respond, just pulled the door shut and waved the driver off. 

Neil watched until the cab was out of sight, letting the snow blanket him. The city always seemed quieter in the snow. 

As he climbed the stairs up to Matt’s apartment, he felt like he was coming home for the first time, and he found himself worrying less about the winter to come.


End file.
